Review: A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine

[Russ Allbery]

A Desolation Called Peace
by Arkady Martine

Series:    Teixcalaan #2
Publisher: Tor
Copyright: 2021
ISBN:      1-250-18648-X
Format:    Kindle
Pages:     496

A Desolation Called Peace is a direct sequel to A Memory Called Empire
and picks up shortly after that book's ending. It would completely
spoil the first book and builds heavily on previous events. This is not
a series to read out of order.

It's nearly impossible to discuss anything about the plot of this book
without at least minor spoilers for the previous book, so beware. If
you've not read A Memory Called Empire, I highly recommend it, and you
may want to skip this review until you have.

Mahit Dzmare has returned to Lsel Station and escaped, mostly, the pull
of the Teixcalaan Empire in all its seductive arrogance. That doesn't
mean Lsel Station is happy to see her. The maneuverings of the station
council were only a distant part of the complex political situation she
was navigating at the Teixcalaanli capital. Now home, it is far harder
to ignore powerful councilors who would be appalled by the decisions
she made. The ambassador to a hated foreign empire does not have many
allies.

Yaotlek Nine Hibiscus, the empire's newest commander of commanders, is
the spear the empire has thrust towards a newly-discovered alien
threat. The aliens have already slaughtered all the inhabitants of a
mining outpost for no obvious reason, and their captured communications
are so strange as to provoke nausea in humans. Their cloaking
technology makes the outcome of pitched warfare dangerously uncertain.
Nine Hibiscus needs someone who can talk to aliens without mouths, and
that means the Information Ministry.

The Information Ministry means a newly promoted Three Seagrass, who is
suffering from insomnia, desperately bored, and missing Mahit Dzmare.
And who sees in Nine Hibiscus's summons an opportunity to address
several of those problems at once.

A Memory Called Empire had an SFnal premise and triggering plot
machinery, but it was primarily a city political thriller. A Desolation
Called Peace moves onto the more familiar SF ground of first contact
with a very alien species, but Martine makes the unusual choice of
revealing one of the secrets of the aliens to the reader at the start
of the book. This keeps the reader's focus more on the political
maneuvering than on the mystery, but with a classic first-contact
communication problem as the motivating backdrop.

That's only one of the threads of this book, though. Another is the
unfinished business between Three Seagrass and Mahit Dzmare, and
between Mahit Dzmare and the all-consuming culture of Teixcalaan. A
third is the political education of a very exceptional boy, whose mere
existence is a spoiler for A Memory Called Empire and therefore not
something I will discuss in detail. And then there are the internal
politics of Lsel Station, although I thought that was the least
effective part of the book and never reached a satisfying conclusion.

This is a lot to balance, and I think that's one of the reasons why A
Desolation Called Peace doesn't replicate the magic that made me love A
Memory Called Empire so much. Full-steam-ahead pacing with characters
who are thinking on their feet and taking desperate risks has a
glorious momentum. Here, there's too much going on (not to mention four
major viewpoint characters) to maintain the same pace. Once Mahit and
Three Seagrass get into the same room, there are moments that are as
good as the highlights of A Memory Called Empire, but it's not as
sustained as I was hoping for.

This book also spends more time on Mahit and Three Seagrass's
relationship, and despite liking both of the characters, this didn't
entirely work for me. Martine uses them to make a subtle and powerful
point about relationships across power gradients and the hurt that
comes from someone trivializing a conflict that is central to your
identity. It took me a while to understand the strength of Mahit's
reaction, but it eventually felt right. But that fight wasn't what I
was looking for in the book, and there was a bit too much of both of
them failing (or refusing) to communicate for my taste. I appreciated
what Martine was exploring, but personally I wanted a different sort of
catharsis.

That said, this is still a highly enjoyable book. Nine Hibiscus is a
solid military SF character who is a good counterweight to the more
devious approaches of the other characters. I enjoyed the subplot of
the kid in the Teixcalaanli capital more than I expected, although it
felt more like setup for future novels than critical to the plot of
this one. And then there's Three Seagrass.

  Three Seagrass always made decisions wholly and entire. All at once.
  choosing information as her aptitudes. Choosing the position of
  cultural liaison to the Lsel Ambassador. Choosing to trust her.
  choosing to come here, to take this assignment — entirely,
  completely, and without pausing to look to see how deep the water
  was that she was leaping into.

Every word of this is true, and it's so much fun to read. Three
Seagrass was a bit overshadowed in A Memory Called Empire, a supporting
character in someone else's story. Here, she has moments where she can
take the lead, and she's so delightfully different than Mahit. I loved
every moment of her viewpoint.

A Desolation Called Peace isn't as taut or as coherent as A Memory
Called Empire. The plot sags in a few places, and I think there was a
bit too much hopeless Lsel politics, nebulous alien horror, and injured
silence between characters. But the high points are nearly as good as
the high points of A Memory Called Empire and I adore these characters.
If you liked the first book, I think you'll like this one too.

More, please!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed: 2021-05-15

URL: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/1-250-18648-X.html

-- 
Russ Allbery (eagle at eyrie.org)             <https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>